At some point recently, Hollywood decided to start remaking movies that came out not too long ago with all-female casts for the sake of just being all-female casts. It never goes over well, at least thus far. The most recent terrible remake was ‘Ocean’s 8‘, a remake of the ‘Ocean‘ trilogy that starred George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon amongst others.

UPGRADE

Upgrade is an excellent 90 minute Black Mirror episode. If you enjoy action movies or anything sci-fi I suggest checking out this quiet little movie before it leaves theaters. The basic plot is in the near future a guy has his spine severed when he and his wife get attacked by a group of men. After becoming a quadriplegic, he undergoes an experimental procedure that puts an AI chip in his spine. This chip gives him some superhuman abilities and senses which he uses to hunt down his wife’s killers.

Ocean’s 8 is an enjoyable heist movie, but it brought a fresh spin to the screen for the franchise, and for that reason it’s in the running for my favorite of the films. An all-female cast can come off pretty campy (hey Sex and the City), but when it’s done well (I see you Pitch Perfect), each character brings their own sass and charm to the screen. Oceans does just that, with each of the stars carrying their weight and adding a spark to the role they play as part of the heist team. No one out shined the other; they truly worked as a unit, which I think overall the Ocean films have tried to do. Clooney carried the day in the male led films, but here, all the women brought it.

We’ve been hearing for a while that there will be a full female film called ‘Ocean’s 8‘, which will coincide with the ‘Ocean’s 11‘ movies. In fact, Sandra Bullock will play Danny Ocean’s (George Clooney) sister with Cate Blanchett playing the role that Brad Pitt played in the trilogy of movies. It looks to be set in the same universe and stars Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, with Rihanna and Helena Bonham Carter. There will be many other cameos as well, including Matt Damon, reprising his role as Linus.

In a move that will surely have people claiming that Hollywood is trying to ruin their childhood, and why can’t they just leave it alone, along with my favorite – are there no original ideas anymore? Comes the announcement that Warner Bros. is revamping ‘Ocean’s Eleven‘ with ‘Ocean’s Ocho‘. Of course there’s a twist – the cast consists of women. If you’re claiming the George Clooney led ‘Ocean’s Eleven‘ from 2001 doesn’t deserve a reboot, just remember that film was a reboot of the ‘Ocean’s 11’ ensemble original from 1960. Frank Sinatra was Danny Ocean and was surrounded by his rat pack buddies. So go ahead, take a few minutes and get the whining out of your system, I can wait.

We wrote a few weeks ago about James Cameron and his crew taking a journey down to the ocean’s deepest point and doing a documentary about it. Well at around 3:00 pm PST, James Cameron tweeted that he accomplished just that. You can read our previous article about the whole voyage HERE.

We can’t keep James Cameron out of the water can we? Cameron plans to reach the world’s deepest underwater surface which is almost seen miles down. The dive will take place at the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean with a unique submersible vehicle and camera. This is scheduled to take place in the coming weeks and will be a joint venture with James Cameron and National Geographic. This project is to “conduct deep-ocean research and exploration to expand our knowledge and understanding of these largely unknown parts of the planet.” Sounds really cool. Maybe we fill ‘Atlantis’.

Here is a Geek Deal for an entire week or until Sunday. The Ocean trilogy on blu-ray is selling this week for only $17.99. That is a little more than $5.00 a blu-ray disc. All three films for 50% off in a set. I love these films. The actors have such a great chemistry and were always such a joy to watch them all share the screen.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Imagine if someone made a Beatles movie but Ringo was the one who had the final say in every plot point? That’s what you get here. Surviving band members doing everything they can to make sure you recognize it wasn’t just Freddie Mercury in Queen. Guess what? We know that bu we don’t care.

Terrible news, everyone. Hollywood is remaking the 1988 comedy ‘License to Drive‘ that starred Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. This time, it’s going to be all women in the lead roles. So basically, they are going to Ghostbuster it up, meaning this will be a complete shit-show. Alisha Brophy and Scott Miles will develop the remake, according to Deadline, which is being described like a female version of Superbad and License to Drive.

Relive the action-packed adventures of retired and extremely dangerous special agents in the most amazing picture quality available today when both RED and RED 2 arrive separately on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack (plus Blu-ray™ and Digital HD) on September 5 from Lionsgate. RED features an all-star cast including Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren and Mary-Louise Parker. In the film’s sequel, RED 2, Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Byung Hun Lee join the franchise. These both release on September 5th!

THE FILM

In 1964, Audrey Hepburn made My Fair Lady, which was met with critical claim and financial success. After all of the chaotic press tours, media coverage, and award shows that followed that film, Hepburn joined the cool, fun film How To Still A Million in 1966 with Peter O’Toole, along with William Wyler as director (Ben-Hur, Roman Holiday, The Best Years of Our Lives). Not exactly a light-weight. How To Still A Million can be compared to Ocean’s 11, The Thomas Crown Affair, or the recent Trance film if it were a comedy and light-hearted.

The Finest Hours opens on the hood of a 50s vehicle and a lot of snow. Two men, Bernie Webber (Chris Pine) and his friend, are driving to meet two ladies for a blind date. The apprehensive Webber meets his match when he lays eyes on Smokey the Bear (it will make sense if you see the film). Miriam (Holliday Grainger) is Webber’s spitfire love interest. Read the rest of this entry »

We all know and love Aaron Sorkin by now, right? He was the amazing screenwriter of the ‘West Wing‘, ‘The Social Network‘, HBO’s ‘The Newsroom‘, ‘Moneyball‘, and the recent ‘Steve Jobs‘ film. He has always been a writer, but hasn’t yet sat in that director’s chair yet. That’s all about to change as Sony has offered him to direct his first film as well as writer it, or shall I say adapt it from the 2014 book, ‘Molly’s Game: From Hollywood’s Elite to Wall Street’s Billionaire Boy’s Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker‘, which is the memoir of Molly Bloom.

‘Now You See Me‘ was a really clever, entertaining film, kind of our generation’s ‘Ocean’s Eleven‘, not that one, the first one with Sinatra, Deano and Sammy. It was genius, so I was excited for a sequel and now that we’ve seen the trailer. This one stars Michael Caine, Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Daniel Radcliffe and Mark Ruffalo among others. I’m anticipating the release date, which is all the way in June, but this trailer might hold me over.